OpenAI endorses California's SB 1119 on youth AI safety

OpenAI publicly endorsed SB 1119, a California bill regulating companion chatbots for minors, and called on Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it. The bill, authored by state senator Steve Padilla and assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, is known as Adam’s Law after Adam Raine, the sixteen-year-old whose death by suicide led his parents to file a wrongful-death suit against OpenAI the previous year.

SB 1119 would require chatbot operators to determine whether a user is a minor, conduct risk assessments before releasing or substantially modifying a companion chatbot, and maintain protocols for detecting suicidal ideation and self-harm content, including referrals to crisis services. It also requires independent compliance audits submitted to the state Attorney General and restricts data collection and targeted advertising involving minors. If signed, its requirements take effect from July 2027.

Gizmodo reported that Politico had described chief executive Sam Altman attempting to contact Governor Newsom directly the week before the bill passed the legislature, which OpenAI disputed, saying no such call took place. The endorsement followed the company’s own launch, two weeks earlier, of a restricted ChatGPT mode for 13-to-17-year-olds, amid continuing litigation and legislative pressure over how its products respond to minors in crisis.